


Coldflash Drabbles

by Thundersnow (pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-22 13:10:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22216585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pieprincess_andthe_fallenangel/pseuds/Thundersnow
Summary: Just a place for me to share the oneshots and drabbles I've posted on my tumblr. See the Author's Notes at the beginning of each story for individual warnings and ratings. Enjoy
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	Coldflash Drabbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Flash and Captain Cold swap powers for a night. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2.8k words  
> Rated Teen and Up  
> No Archive Warnings or Trigger warnings apply.

“Snart!” Barry shouted, gaining the thief’s attention. Lazily, Snart turned to face him, smirk planted firmly on his lips.

“It looks like you’re getting _slow_ , Flash,” Snart drawled back, and Barry glared at him. Normally, Barry enjoyed fighting against Captain Cold, enjoyed their casual banter loaded with Snart’s dramatic flair and puns. But today was not a normal day.

Barry was tired, and on-edge, and he just wanted his powers back, goddammit.

You see, last night started like any other: Barry was doing his thing, patrolling the streets, keeping Central City safe; he’d just finished saving an old couple from an apartment fire on Oak Street when he heard a man yelling for help. The guy was standing outside of the apartment building, looking panicked and irrational like he was about to run back inside the burning building. Barry sped forward, putting his hands out to stop the man before he’d even started moving.

But the second that Barry’s hand made contact with the guy’s arm, something happened. Barry wasn’t sure exactly what it was at the time, but he felt suddenly drained. Empty. He blinked at the man, unconsciously taking a step back from him. The guy turned to look back at Barry, a slow smirk growing on his face. Without warning, the guy punched Barry squarely in the jaw, knocking him down to the ground in one blow. Barry’s head swam for a moment, and by the time the dizziness had passed, the guy was running away, already halfway down the street.

Barry jumped to his feet and tried to run after him, but he couldn’t call on the speedforce. And that’s when Barry realised what was wrong. The guy, whoever he was, had stolen Barry’s powers!

Barry’s team had to come to pick him up, Caitlin becoming increasingly worried by Barry’s vitals. Apparently, the Flash suit was showing a significant drop in Barry’s core temperature. Though Barry didn’t feel cold…

The team didn’t figure out what was going on until after Barry was back at the labs and Cait was trying to draw some of his blood for tests, only for the needle to turn to ice in her hands the second it tried to pierce Barry’s skin. Somehow, Barry had lost his own powers and gained Snart’s instead.

After that, it was just a waiting game.

But they didn’t need to wait for long. Snart hadn’t even given it a full 24 hours before donning his parka and racing around the city. The guy hit casinos, shipping yards, and art exhibits alike; no place was safe from Captain Cold with super speed. It wasn’t until Snart broke into a bank, clearing out only one safety deposit box in the entire safe, before Barry’s team discovered a pattern to Snart’s crime spree: he was robbing the Santini family blind, going after anything and everything they owned. He was clearly working down a list of locations, hitting the biggest places first so as to make the largest dent in the Santini stronghold.

Once they’d figured out the pattern, Barry found out what the next biggest place to hit would be, and that was how he found himself staking out a jewellery store and cornering the supervillain before Snart would have the chance to escape with his loot.

“Game’s up,” Barry called. “Now, are you going to give me my powers back willingly, or am I going to have to take them with force?” Barry asked, willing the cold energy in his veins to activate in preparation, his hands misting.

“Tell you what,” Snart drawled. “If you win, I’ll cooperate,” he said. “But if I win, you’ll let me go on my merry way.”

“- _Careful, Barry,_ -” Cisco warned over the comms, “- _You don’t have enough control over your powers to fight Cold yet_.-”

But what other choice did Barry have?

“Deal,” Barry said, turning his comms off so that he didn’t have to listen to his team’s protests, and Snart smirked in reply.

There was a moment of complete stillness between them, where they only looked at one another, seeing who would make the first move.

Then Snart was running. Barry threw his hands up and felt the heat drain from the room, slowing Snart down. But not slow enough for Barry to be able to land a punch. Snart skidded past Barry, laughing.

Barry spun around and sent a blast of cold energy Snart’s way, enough to blow out the windows of the store and leave them singed white with frost, but Snart was able to dodge the blast without issue.

Snart ran directly at Barry then, Barry prepared his body for the blow he was sure to receive, not fast enough to duck out of the way. But Snart dodged around Barry at the last second, his lightning trail skimming against Barry’s skin and leaving goosebumps in its wake.

Barry spun around again, trying to keep Snart in front of him at all times. He couldn’t leave his back open for attack. But Snart was moving again, Barry only managing to catch a glimpse of his lightning. Barry spun around as fast as he could, frantically trying to keep his eyes trained on his opponent. But Snart was too fast, managing to stay ahead of Barry at every turn, and Barry was quickly becoming dizzy as the world around him dissolved into blurs of colour and flashes of lightning.

The sound of Snart’s laughter filled the air.

Barry shot ice down at the floor, hoping Snart would lose his footing on it as Barry had done so many times before. But Snart was able to dodge the glistening patch of ice without issue.

He ran past Barry again, this time coming to a stop.

When Barry’s eyes finally focused on him, he saw sparks licking at Snart’s boots, the fur of his parka alight with dull embers.

“Let me put that out for you,” Barry said, aiming another blast Snart’s way. But Snart managed to dodge it as he had all of the others, his parka left discarded on the floor. This time when Snart ran past Barry, so close that Barry felt a spark of electricity where their shoulders brushed, Snart slowed down just enough to whisper into Barry’s ear.

“Too slow,” Snart taunted.

When Barry turned around, Leonard was standing there and grinning. Barry hesitated before making his next move, distracted by the vision of Snart without his parka. He looked naked without it, bare and open. Barry’s eyes skimmed down Leonard’s body, a feeling in his gut twisting not-uncomfortably which only amplified ten-fold when Leonard winked at him.

But then Snart was running again, and Barry got his mind back in the game as it continued, whirling back and forth trying to catch the temporary-speedster off guard while Snart became nothing but a blur.

Barry stopped spinning around as he began to feel lightheaded again. The store was covered in so much ice, the temperature dropped so low, that it must have been affecting Snart’s speed. But, still, Barry could not keep up.

He closed his eyes for a second to keep the world from spinning, inhaling deeply and focusing on the heat inside the room, trying to draw out more and more of it. That was when he realised that Leonard’s speed was giving off its own type of heat.

Barry concentrated on it, feeling the power it gave off, the energy brimming under the surface. He could feel it now against his skin, the heat radiating from the speedforce. He could feel the movement of it around the room, zipping back and forth and narrowly dodging the patches of ice.

Barry opened his eyes and lifted his left hand to fire another cold energy blast, directing it to where he knew Snart would be.

It hit him on the shoulder and sent him flying backwards and into the wall behind.

Barry winced, knowing exactly what it felt like to be hit like that with these powers. Snart groaned, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling above. Barry moved forward, standing above Snart and preparing himself in case the man tried something else. But Snart just grinned up at him and raised his hand for Barry to grab, which he did, helping Snart back up onto his feet.

"Not bad," Snart huffed.

" _Not_ _bad_?” Barry rolled his eyes. “I knocked you onto your ass."

"Yeah, but I could have taken you out about 20 times over," Snart said, smirking.

"Yeah, sure. Then why didn't you?"

Snart paused before answering, shrugging. When he did speak, his voice was much quieter than earlier.

"Maybe I want my powers back too,” he admitted, and Barry could believe that. His own powers had become like a second skin to him, and it didn’t feel right to be without them. “Don't get me wrong, Kid,” Snart continued, his voice more playful again. “I enjoyed taking yours out for a test run. But it's just not the same."

Barry opened his mouth to speak again, but the sound of sirens got his attention first. He hadn’t paid much thought about the police until just now, but their fight must have set off a few alarms or at least alerted the neighbours to what was going on. The cops were on their way, and Barry needed to make sure that neither himself nor Snart was still here when they arrived.

Snart must have had the same idea because he started smirking.

“Hold on tight,” he drawled, and then Barry felt his feet being pulled out from underneath him followed by a sensation similar to that of falling, only more controlled than that, while the world blurred around him.

A second later and Barry's feet hit the ground again. He stumbled and looked around, trying to place his surroundings as the world slowly stopped spinning. Barry didn’t know why, but he’d always assumed that being carried at super speed would feel the exact same way as running in it. But it wasn’t. It was so vastly different that Barry needed a few seconds before his brain could catch up. He was standing in a warehouse now, and Snart was beside him, smirking.

Barry huffed out a breath, trying not to show how the short run had affected him while moving his hand up to his face as he began to remove the cowl from his head. But Snart’s hand was holding Barry’s wrist back instantly, preventing him from moving. He could feel sparks of electricity coming off of Snart’s skin even through the fabric of the Flash suit, and Barry felt his breath catch at it. It wasn’t a painful sensation. Just… odd. Unexpected.

Barry met Snart’s eyes, and Snart released Barry’s wrist again, taking a step back.

“I wouldn’t do that just yet, Scarlet,” Snart warned, his voice low. Then he looked over his shoulder, Barry followed his gaze to find Lisa Snart leaning against a doorway. “Bring him in,” Snart called to his sister, and then Lisa nodded and disappeared, arriving back into the large warehouse floor seconds later with Mick Rory who was dragging a guy in by the scuff of his jacket collar. The guy was bound at the wrists and had a gag tied around his mouth to keep him from speaking.

It was the same guy who Barry had seen outside the apartment building last night, the meta who had somehow stolen Barry’s powers.

Barry turned back to Snart, a question in his eyes.

“He ran into me, quite literally, last night on the corner of 5th and Oak. After that, I realised I didn’t have my powers. But I did have _yours_ ,” Snart explained and then shrugged. “Didn’t take me long to get the truth out of him. Seems he’d stolen your speed and planned to sell it on to the highest bidder.” Barry turned to look at the guy again, noticing the bruising along his jaw which certainly hadn’t been there the first time the two had met. “Luckily for you, I got them instead,” Snart drawled.

Barry considered that statement and nodded. As strange as it was to admit, Barry really was lucky that Snart was the one who’d been given Barry’s powers. He shuddered to think what someone with more nefarious plans would have done with super speed and no Flash to stop them…

“Can we get this over with?” Mick grumbled, pushing the meta he was escorting to the floor at Barry’s feet.

“Sorry, Flash,” Lisa drawled. “Mickey here’s just a little grumpy that he missed out on getting meta powers again.” She laughed and then eyed Barry dangerously. “And he’s not the only one.” She said that last part so quietly that Barry almost didn’t hear it. But he did, and he got chills from Lisa’s stare. Barry got the feeling that, if it were up to her, she would be the one leaving here with super speed. It made Barry tense.

But Snart had given Barry his word that they would cooperate and, despite everything that had happened between them over the years, Barry trusted him.

Snart brushed past Barry, lifting the meta up from his knees and producing a knife to cut the guy’s binds. The guy instantly pulled the gag out of his mouth and sucked in a deep breath of clean air.

“Are you going to play nice?” Snart drawled, and the guy nodded. Barry thought he had an idea about how he’d got that bruise on his jaw… “Good,” Snart smirked, pleased. “Switch us back.”

The guy lunged for Barry’s arm instantly, eager to obey, and Barry felt the speed force return to him, filling him up and making him complete once more. Barry tested it by vibrating one of his gloved hands and sighed in relief as his powers were quick to comply. Barry looked to Snart, seeing the man’s eyes glowing that unearthly blue which they sometimes did when he used his powers. Snart grinned wickedly and the glow faded.

Lisa threw a pair of metahuman handcuffs Barry’s way, and Barry snatched them up in mid-air, lightning-fast. Barry dropped down to attach the power dampeners to the meta’s wrists as the three Rogues in the room turned to leave without another word. But there was one question still on Barry’s mind which he needed answering, so he flashed forward, dropping his hand on Snart’s shoulder to stall him before he could leave.

Lisa and Mick turned back, alerted by the sudden static in the room which Barry’s speed produced. Snart looked at Barry for a moment before turning back to his crew, nodding to let them know everything was fine and they could leave. They did.

Barry waited until they were out of the room, then he dropped his voice low enough that the meta handcuffed a few feet away couldn’t hear him before he spoke.

"Why did you really agree to switch back?" He asked, knowing that Snart could have got a lot of use out of Barry’s powers if he’d kept them for just another day or two. Based on his actions of the last few hours, he could have single-handedly kicked the Santini crime family out of Central City and taken control for himself.

But he instead let Barry win.

Snart looked at him, his blue eyes staring deep into Barry’s soul before he finally answered.

"The city needs its hero," Snart said, his voice unfiltered and vulnerable, more real than Barry had ever heard it before. And there was something about the way he said it, the way he looked at Barry, the way he stood crowded so close to Barry’s body…

Barry swallowed thickly as something bubbled in his chest, and Snart’s eyes dropped to his lips. There was an electricity between them, a tension which Barry had felt countless times before but never acted on. But now, with Leonard’s words ringing in Barry’s ears, with the meaning _behind_ those words singing in his chest, Barry wanted to act. He wanted to surge forward and capture Leonard’s lips with his own, wrapping his arms around his body and pulling him flush against Barry. He wanted to see what noises he could draw out of Snart’s mouth, feel Snart’s skin against his own, bite, and taste, and bury himself inside Leonard’s embrace.

Barry began to lean forward, his heart racing.

But then Snart’s eyes snapped up, the icy blue making Barry freeze, locking him there so close and yet so far. Leonard’s eyes flickered over Barry’s shoulder, reminding him that they weren’t alone in the warehouse and that the metahuman that had swapped their powers was still here.

“We’ll pick this up later,” Snart drawled, and Barry nodded, breathless. They stayed in each other’s space for a moment longer before Barry finally got the strength to move back.

 _Soon_ , he thought, watching Snart hesitate before he turned and walked out of the warehouse.

‘ _Later’_ couldn’t come quick enough…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the lovely anon who requested this! I've wanted to write a powerswap plot for so long :)  
> If you've enjoyed this drabble then let me know in the comments and/or reblog the [original post on tumblr](https://pieprincess-andthe-fallenangel.tumblr.com/post/190003606687/i-wish-you-would-write-a-fic-where-len-is-a-meta)!


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